


Of Adventures & Discoveries

by Havenesc



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Cassie-centered, Family, I love this household, Other, collection, oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-03 07:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11527233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havenesc/pseuds/Havenesc
Summary: A collection of artifacts that can't be found in a jungle.





	1. Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> A first oneshot of many centered on the baby of the family.

               “Alright, Cass. Move your foot up to that ledge right there.”

 

              “Are you… _sure_ this is safe?” The girl uses her shoulder to push up her glasses, hands firmly gripping the rocky terrain of the short cliffside. The ledge in question was a good foot and a half above her current position, and she didn’t want to risk losing balance on the _other_ three limbs that were clinging for dear life. Sam rested a little ways up, coaching her every move as she ascended after him. (So what if she was twelve? Nate was crawling through _vents_ at ten.)

               “’Course it’s safe. Have I ever let you do anything that wasn’t _safe?_ ” Sam’s mischief shined through his mock offense, and Cassie squinted up at him through her lenses. “You really want me to answer that?”

               “Touché.” Alright, so Sam wasn’t the best example. He liked to push the envelope, liked to see how far he could bring Cassie along for the ride before Nate caught up and reeled them back in. Granted, he hadn’t set the house on fire (all the way) and he hadn’t killed his niece (6 days without an accident) yet. In their family, there was something to be said for going this long without a major crisis. Sam intended to keep the streak going, but…. with Nate and Elena off to Ecuador for another two weeks, he felt it was time to take some _liberties_ on what he could get away with. It wasn’t often that he and Sully got to visit; the house would forever be foreign to him, the views around it unmapped. Not that _Hawaii_ of all places was something to be discovered.

               “That’s it, there you go.” His words of praise spurred Cassie on as she clumsily clambered up, upper arms shaking briefly with every heave. Climbing was so much harder than her elders made it look. Sometimes for fun, the family would go to the local center and climb the false rock wall, but it didn’t hold a candle to this freelance stuff. She gripped another ledge, grunting as she pulled herself up close to Sam’s height. “See? Knew you could do it.”

               “Harder than it looks,” She puffed, warily glancing down. They weren’t terribly high up, but it was high enough to be worried for injury. “You really do all this stuff on the regular?”

               “Eh, you get used to it.” Sam shrugged as he reached his arm up, knees bending briefly for a moment before he leapt upwards and snagged a salt-eroded edge. “See? Soon enough and you’ll be all over this place. Faster than your dad can catch you, imagine that.”

               Cassie rolls her eyes. _Showoff._ “Hard to believe you can still get around with your age.”

               “Hey! _Hey.”_ Though playful in demeanor, Sam released his grip with one hand to point down at her, chiding his niece’s low blow. “I’m _not_ that old. Actually, I’m not even _old._ ” He pats the rocky surface of the cliff and stretches a hand out to her. “Your dad and I have been doing this stuff since we were kids. We were meant for it.”

               He didn’t say it, but Cassie understood the meaning behind it: _you’re meant for it, too._

               Sure would be nice if it meant _easy climbing._

               She takes his hand and lets him haul her up another extra foot, legs and arms quickly settling into the grooves. Hanging on becomes harder as the erosion gets smaller, but she was nothing if not determined. Sam’s approval shines bright on the back of her head as she scopes out and takes the next few reaches on her own.

               It was difficult and her muscles burned, but something about it just seemed _right._ Natural. The texture of stone beneath her hands, the eye that she was quickly honing the longer this session kept up. Cassie was a rookie, no doubt, but she felt at ease with the effort.  Maybe she really was her father’s daughter after all.

It wasn’t like her dad was too strict, or too worried; on the contrary, he let her do a lot of things no other kids could dream of attempting. Who else in her class could read latin scripture or speak two other languages? Elena helps her boast by reminding her that she’s been to six countries so far, but in truth Cassie only remembers three excursions – and none of them to the extent of their previous encounters, if Sam’s vague hints were anywhere close to the real deal. Months and months of picking at his brain over the years revealed no more than what she already knew to start with. Sam was _really_ good at breaking rules, so it never failed to make her wonder what made him follow this one in particular.

“- ----- You two _tryin’_ to break your goddamn necks out here?”

               The familiar old voice called up to them over the sway of the tide, and the pair looked down in unison. Vicky sat with her tail wagging next to Sullivan, who folded his arms over his chest in a disapproving-but-not-quite manner. Sam tipped his imaginary cap to his companion. “Mornin’, Victor!”

               “Sully!” Cassie looked over her shoulder, her grin outmatching Sam’s smirk as she beamed down at the old man. “I got pretty far up, huh?!”

               “You did.” Sully conceded, hands moving to rest on his hips. “You should be glad your _dad_ isn’t here to see it, kid.”

               “Victor! This is a moment to be _celebrated!_ ” Sam’s sly tone casts across the space, and he gestures to the sight next to him – all 90 pounds of the Fisher-Drake girl clinging to the shallow cliffside, sweat making her hair stick to her temples as she sits over fifteen feet up. The fire of triumph lights up in her eyes, and her grin is radiant. It’s a start – they had a small ways to go before they hit the top – but she was quite proud. The rec center couldn’t pull anything like _this_ off. “She’s already a pro!”

               If Sully rolled his eyes, they couldn’t tell. “Just try not to fall on your way down. I already lied to Nate _once_ on this trip.” Sam snickered.

               “We can do this again, right?” Cassie made sure to keep her voice out of Sully’s hearing range as Sam helped her descend. When he met her gaze, she looked to the top – a little longer and they would’ve had it. Stubborn. She must get that from her mom.

               “Yeah, ‘course.” Sam smirks like it’s the most obvious answer in the world. “We’ll get ‘em next time.” Cassie nodded fiercely, and Sam couldn’t help but be proud of his niece.

               She was a Drake through and through.


	2. Hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the baby wakes, Nate's mind drifts beyond New Orleans.

               It’s 2 in the morning when Cassie’s small whimpers start up again. They’re quiet, at first, but Nate doesn’t miss the momentary swell in volume as a warning signal. He hadn’t been asleep, not really; it was a routine hour, and like clockwork she’d be hard-pressed to let them skip the time until she woke again at four (and another, at five-thirty). Nate’s out of bed already just as Elena stirs, but before she can sit up and rub the sleep from her eyes, he throws a hand up to ward her off with a soft, “I’ve got her.” He earns a small, tired hum in reply as he moves across the hall.

               Cassie’s squirming when he enters, disgruntled cries rising for a second as he reaches into the crib and immediately softening when she realizes she’s being held. Nate scoops her up securely in broad arms, handling his child like the very wrong look could break her to pieces. (Hell, it had happened with almost _everything else_ he’s laid his hands on – Nathan Drake could never be too careful with anything.) “What’s it this time, Cass?” He murmurs, pacing back and forth at a rhythmic, relaxed pace. Sometimes she was hungry, sometimes a change, sometimes a reason that no amount of hushing or coddling from both parents could sate. The routine could only go so far; she kept them guessing past a certain point.

               At least she was quiet in his arms. That was always a fairly good sign (he thinks).

               Yet when ten minutes of silence pass, full of back and forth strides and a settling baby, the moment Nate tries to lay Cassie back down she’s wide awake again and protesting. “Alright! Alright!” Worried he’s irreversibly angered the wrath of his three-week-old, Nate hurries as much as he dares to pull her back to him again. Almost instantly, she’s quiet once more – big eyes look up at him in the dim light, fingers curling and unfurling into tiny fists. _Figures._ Nate’s smirk is a tired one, but he admires the kid’s demanding behavior.

               He paces for a few more minutes, but when his joints get tired of the repetitive motion he decides to head downstairs. New Orleans never really sleeps, but the sounds of the city stave off when he parks himself on his side of the couch. Cassie stirs in his arms, and for a moment he wonders if it’s the movement that kept her from complaining, but thankfully being held is more than enough for her to fall back asleep.

               A sense of déjà vu washes over him after a while as he watches the ceiling, occasionally rocking the infant in his arms. Just a couple of weeks ago he had sat in the exact same spot, far more fearful of his daughter’s tiny form than he was now. Sam sat adjacent, leaned back into the couch cushions and smirking at his baby brother’s extra-careful way of operations. He and Sully had both stayed for a week when Cassie came; both to help out the new parents and also see the wonder kid herself.

               “You holding a bomb or a baby?” Sam had asked, amusement written clearly across his face as he pretended to take a sip of his bottle. Nate risked a glance at him before he rooted his gaze right back to Cassie, who was soundly asleep.

               “Knowing my luck? Kind of hard to tell the difference at this point.”

               “ _God._ Listen, I remember _you_ at that size.” Sam’s smirk turned into a sly grin. “We might’ve dropped you a few times, but it turned out alright, didn’t it?”

               When the look he received was incapable of being interpreted into anything other than, ‘ _Not helping,_ ’, he raised his hands in a retreat manner. “Alright, so we only dropped you _once._ But you’re not gonna drop her. I can feel it.”

               “How encouraging.”

               “I’m here all week.”

               They fall off into silence for a minute. The TV is on, but it’s too quiet to make out words anyway, and neither of them could really concentrate with the baby in the room. Nate knows his brother is watching him instead, watching the way he keeps a careful eye on Cass as if she’d magically grow the ability to run in the span of three-fifths of a second. Maybe he’s crazy, maybe not; this had never really been in the cards, and it was one of many things Nate found himself unprepared for. Sam nurses on his drink a little more, and when he speaks again, it’s earnest.

               “Y’know, she couldn’t be asking for better parents.” Sam meets Nate’s gaze with a pointed look. “I mean that. I do.”

               The sincerity of his words bears a heavy weight. Their childhood hadn’t been the easiest, by far. It’s hard to remember the exact features of their mother’s face, but it’s easy to remember the cruelty of their father. Nate and Sam had struggled for years in St. Francis; even to the day they left and didn’t look back, their past still tormented them frequently. _Good parents_ didn’t come like cookie cutter form. And Sam doesn’t make his comment lightly.

               “I didn’t think we’d ever get to have something like this.” Nate shrugs, his gaze soft as he looks at the bundle asleep in his arms. “Any of it. Ten years ago, it’s hard to believe I’d do anything but take jobs until I was old as Sully.”

               Sam snorts.

               “And now…” Nate shrugs, careful to keep his forearms still. He glances at his brother, mildly shaking his head.

               “Now you have all of this.” Sam nods, understanding. “Hell, _I’d_ say it’s better than pirate treasure.”

               It’s Nate’s turn to chuckle. There was something to be said for those coins his brother snuck off the ship, truth be told. Elena’s show had taken off like a shot, a classic name rising back to the surface with a new (more handsome, of course) co-host and more interesting digs. Life only picked up even more when Elena discovered the kidney infection most certainly _wasn’t_ a kidney infection. It was hard to believe they’d ended up on this track, but with little Cassie in his arms, Nate couldn’t see it any other way now.

               “Hey.” Sam pulls Nate from his thoughts, raising his bottle for a mock toast. “Sic parvis magna, little brother.”

               Greatness from small beginnings. It almost makes Nate’s chest tighten as he hears the mantra, hears the three words he’d clung so tightly to for so many years. They were there. After all this time, they were there.

               “Sic parvis magna.”

 

               “...Nate?”

               Elena’s voice is so soft in the quiet of the house that it takes another call of his name to make him lift his head from the back of the couch. “Everything okay?”

               “Hm? Yeah.” He readjusts Cassie, who is fast asleep, and sits up a little further. “She just wanted to be held.”

               Elena’s nod is slow and amused. Cassie had made them discover that remedy the more difficult way. She tucks an unruly strand of hair behind her ear and draws closer. “Want me to take over?”

               Nate shakes his head and Elena slinks to her preferred place on the couch. She settles against him, curling her legs underneath her and lifting an arm to the back of the couch. Nate always welcomes her company; it’s a calming force even when his mind wanders too far.  The corners of his mouth turn up as she presses a kiss to his shoulder, free hand laying across his forearm gently.

               They sit there together for a moment. In only a few hours the sun will rise, pulling them from their lackluster sleeping habits to begin the day; but here, now, they cherish the little moments. Who knows how many they’ll have.

               “Hey.” Elena’s smile is soft as she catches Nate’s attention. “I love you.”

               The words never fail to let warmth flood through his chest. He leans just enough to kiss her, and Elena holds him a little tighter still.

               “I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few more chapters planned out, all jumping around with no real plot direction. Let me know what you think!


End file.
